Automatic electric-light connection for automatic railway block-signals.



No. 788,872. PATENTED MAY 2, 1905 W. ALLOWAY. AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC LIGHT CONNECTION FOR AUTOMATICRAILWAY BLOCK SIGNALS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 22, 1904.

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O Y (liken n1 NITED STATES Patented May 2, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM ALLOWAY, OF CALEDONIA, N EW YORK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 788,872, dated May 2, 1905.

Application filed March 22, 1904:. Serial No. 199,4 l6.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WVILLIAM ALLOWAY, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Caledonia, in the county of Livingston and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Electric- Light Connections for Automatic Railway Block-Signals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway signaling, and more particularly to automatic electric block-signals, and in detail has reference especially to electric means for illuminating the lens of the ordinary signal-spectacle by having the spectacle swing into and out of the light-path of incandescent lamps, which are lighted and extinguished by an engine or train entering and leaving a block and automatically and simultaneously with the usual operation of such spectacles for block-signal purposes.

The invention has for its essential object to provide the automatic railway block-signals with stationary or fixed incandescent electric lamps in the path of the ordinary signal-spectacle lens and lighted and extinguished. automatically and simultaneously by the entrance and exit of a train to and from each block and simultaneously with the swinging of the said spectacle-lens into and out of said path.

A further object of the invention is to provide the automatic railway block-signals having the usual signal-spectacle and blade-posts and lamp casings or housings with incandescent lamps connected by a pair of wires in each post at the intersection of the blocks to a battery at the bottom of the posts and electric devices from the railway-rails of adjacent blocks to the said battery, whereby the lamps may be lighted by a train entering a block and kept so only during the time the block is occupied.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this application, Figure 1 is an elevation partly broken away and partly diagrammatic. Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view of one of the posts, showing the relative position of relay and armature when a block is occupied. Fig. 3 is an elevation showing the relative position of relay and armature when a block is unoccupied and the lamps lighted.

The same numeral references denote the same parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

For the purpose of illustration the track shown is divided into blocks with a post and electric devices at the end of each block. The electric devices being the same at each post, only one of said devices will be described in detail. For the better illustration of the invention the means for operating the signal spectacles or blades is omitted from the drawings; but it is obvious that any such means as are commonly employed may be used and operated, as usual.

The track-rails 1 are insulated at 2, and the rails upon one side of the insulation are connected to a battery 3 by wires 1, which will be herein termed track batteries. The rails at the other side of the insulation are connected to a relay 5 by wires 6. The relayarmature 7 has two arms 8 depending therefrom, one of which engages an arm to close the lam p-circuit and the other of which strikes an arm 9 to limit the downward movement of the armature. The arm 10 is connected to a battery 11, from which one of the electriclight wires 12 extend, and the other of said wires 18 is attached to one of the back points 8. These wires extend up a hollow signalpost 13 to incandescent lamps 14, housed in an ordinary or usual casing 15, secured to the post. The signal-spectacles 19 and blades 16 are of ordinary type, have the usual lens 17, and may be operated in the customary manner, it only being necessary that the lamps be fixed in such position that the lens will cover the lamp when the blades or spectacles are in horizontal position.

It will be observed that any of the wellknown forms of relays may be fitted with my light-current device by simply attaching the additional arms supplying a battery, furnishing the posts with a pair of wires, and substituting the incandescent lamps for the ordinary or usual oil-lamps.

Upon a train entering a block (the signal spectacle and blades being operated as usual) the relay-armature dropping in the usual way brings the arms into engagement and completes the circuit between the lam p-battery and the lamps of said block, the lamps remaining lighted as long as the block is occupied. It is obvious that upon a train leaving a block the armature will rise and the arms will disengage and extinguish the lamps. I

Having thus described my invention, what 1 claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. The combination, with an automatic railway block-signal, a track-battery and a relay, of the incandescent lamps attached to the signal-posts, the signal-blades having a lens movable in the path of the incandescent lights, a lamp-battery, and wires leading from the battery through the post to the lamps and connected to the relay, substantially as set forth.

2. In a device for lighting automatic railway-signals, the combination, with the trackbatteries, the signal-posts, the incandescent lamps fixed to the posts, and the signal-blades having a lens workingin the path of thelamplights, of a relay-armature having depending WILLIAM ALLOWAY.

WVitnesses:

CHAS. E. DEICHMAN, WV. H. DEWEY. 

